Proactive Chat – Annoying or Welcoming?

[Sara Chaudhary]

Please do share your comments for the better learning on this subject.

SalesChat.net with fully manned live chat service has made some noise during last few months and the purpose of this article is to share its learning about live chat function with the esteemed members of this forum.This article shall discuss the Best Practices for live chat best practices keeping a focus on the pro-active chat. This is a combined knowledge where the feedback of our customers and those who initiate live chat has also been obtained.

The determination of proactive chats is based on who and how this is used? SalesChat.net has made mandatory for its agents to trigger a proactive chat session based on visitor site interactions and behaviors and commonly include: which pages they have visited, how long they remained on a page, where they came from and which items they have in their shopping cart etc.

When can this be annoying?

It can be annoying it is lost the website design, has no obvious way to close it if the viewer isn’t interested, if these are large, ones that pop up in the middle of the screen and/or kept moving around the screen and you had to catch it to close it.

When can this be welcoming?

If the user is researching information on a particular service or product than regardless of whether or not the chat window is utilized, any tool that can add content is certainly welcome. Uninvited chats are unwelcome. If someone is visiting your site, they normally have a specific goals in mind. If they are seeking answers for a customer service issue, they should be given the opportunity to discover the answer by their own. If you are just browsing with little interest, it can be annoying particularly if it keeps reappearing. Or is blocks the whole screen.

The most important thing Sales Chat has learned about proactive chat is that those visitors who have initiated a chat are more likely to make a purchase when have shown an interest and those visitors who have been compelled to get into chat do not prefer to respond to sale inquiry.

This is so confusing that there is no single formula but only probabilities which cannot be gauged because every website visitor has different things in his/her mind and the probability works according to his/her mood.

 

[ewalraven]

In your opinion (for a car dealer website) ..

Should it be accessible on the front page and if so should it be in a popup? Also, results page? Details page?

What is the "industry standard" when it comes to chatting.

FYI - One of the most annoying things about online chat is when you can't get any information about the customer - i.e. real name, number, real e-mail address. And they just dodge the question when you ask.

 

[Sara Chaudhary]

I am trying to cover almost all the businesses who have online presence and definitely Auto Dealers are amongst them.

I must say that you have put a very important question. We have fought a big time over this issue and now we are at ease because we have found the solution. First things first, the live chat should be accessible on every page so that wherever the visitor needs help he can access this. We are against making live chat icon static because as visitor scrolls down the web-page he would overlook the live chat option. We are putting live chat icon very strategically where every time the visitors visits a new page he receives a pro-active chat invitation without bothering him. I am sure you must have used Skype, when we have a new friend coming online then Skype gives us a notification from right bottom pop-up so we adopted Skype’s style and every time a visitor shall be navigating the website he shall see a chat icon popping up from the right bottom which will never bother him. I would like to invite you to visit my website for better understanding. I hope this answers your first question.

About your 2nd question, see, the rules are unwritten, there is no "industry standard" a live chat option should be available on your site but its visitor's discretion to initiate a chat. Remember, never force the visitor to engage with you in chat. Once, he is bothered, the probability is that he is not going to come back again.

About your 3rd question, I think you have had tough time with live chat on your website which is indicated from your last question. My answer is that you do what you can do the best and let others do where they are best. I am not promoting my company here but let me tell you that we free-up our customers from this worry. We conduct live chat with a view to generate you Qualified Sales Lead (QSL) and work 100% on performance basis where QSL is defined as:

1. Visitor’s name,
2. Visitor’s specific interest to buy your product or acquire your service, and
3. Visitor’s contact information.

We charge a very nominal fee against QSL i.e $9/QSL and if we do not provide you QSL there is no money you have to pay us while we conduct other chats such as feedback, complain, inquiry etc.. free of cost for you. Which means if we do not generate you QSL then you do not have to pay us even a single penny and on top of this we provide 30-day free trial.

To summarize, if you are struggling with obtaining the required information from your website visitors then you should consult with the experts.

I hope the above answers all of your questions?

Best regards,

Sara Chaudhary

 

[kcar]

All chat pop-ups are annoying.. Especially when they scroll and flash and blink, etc. It's best to offer it once at the bottom with a small icon or text then a 250x250 size banner chat ad.

 

[joe.pistell]

What is the "industry standard" when it comes to chatting.

FYI - One of the most annoying things about online chat is when you can't get any information about the customer - i.e. real name, number, real e-mail address. And they just dodge the question when you ask.

EW,

You may find this interesting: Is Your Dealership Website Chat Used or Abused? Lots of data points to consider.

"... if your team is un-trained, chat is a time sucker. Your reps will avoid chat because it's low ROI. Low ROI creates un-staffed chat & that is costing you sales. Chat done right, should be one of your top3 lead systems."

HTH

 

[markzu]

Never annoying. Live chat is the best option for customer support and online sales among the available other communication options. You can better understand and discuss in detail about your products with customers and website visitors. Live chat on website is the most recommended option adopted by many Entrepreneurs but yes ..your chat agent/operator must be trained.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Never annoying.

then why do nearly 90% of visitors to sites with Live Chat immediately close the boxes and bars as soon as they appear?

 

[ddavis]

then why do nearly 90% of visitors to sites with Live Chat immediately close the boxes and bars as soon as they appear?

For the same reason that they close the popup coupons.

 

[Alex Snyder]

For the same reason that they close the popup coupons.

I don't get it

Those are never annoying either

 

[ddavis]

It isn't annoying enough that these chat things follow you all over the page. Some have a loud ding, when it appears. The customer is going to remember your dealership after they have spilled coffee in their keyboard.